 Last updated 3 January 2009 - 2100 GMT. |
Nominations to be announced 1330 GMT, Tuesday, 2 February 2010
Must score at least 80 to register
(as of 17 October 2009) The Hurt Locker 94
35 Shots of Rum 91
Up 88
The Beaches of Agnes 86
An Education 85
Avatar 84
Crazy Heart 84
Up in the Air 83
The Maid 83
Fantastic Mr. Fox 83
The Cove 82
The Damned United 81
Bright Star 81
The Sun 81
District 9 80
The Producers Guild of America, whose choice of best film often is mirrored at the Oscars
The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has voted the Gordon E. Sawyer Award to Ed Catmull, a computer scientist, co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios, and president of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios, for his lifetime of technical contributions and leadership in the field of computer graphics for the motion picture industry.
The award, an Oscar
Established in 1981, the Sawyer Award is presented to "an individual in the motion picture industry whose technological contributions have brought credit to the industry." Catmull will be the 22
On Thursday, 15 January, all members of the Academy's Visual Effects Branch will be invited to view 15-minute excerpts from each of the seven shortlisted films. Following the screenings, the members will vote to nominate three films for final Oscar consideration. -- A.M.P.A.S.
On Saturday, 17 January, all members of the Academy's Makeup Branch will be invited to view 10-minute excerpts from each of the seven shortlisted films. Following the screenings, members will vote to nominate three films for final Oscar consideration. -- A.M.P.A.S.
For the second consecutive year, Roger Deakins earned double nominations for the American Society of Cinematographers Outstanding Achievement Award in feature film. Deakins received nominations today for his work on two period films: Revolutionary Road, a martial drama set in suburban Long Island in 1955, and The Reader, a drama spanning several decades in post- World War II Germany. Deakins shares his nomination for the latter with Chris Menges.
These are the eighth and ninth nominations for the British cinematographer. Last year, Deakins was nominated for the ASC award for No Country for Old Men and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. He won the award for The Shawshank Redemption and The Man Who Wasn't There. It's the fourth nomination for Menges.
Other feature film nominees are Claudio Miranda for the fable The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Wally Pfister for the "Batman" superhero blockbuster The Dark Knight and Anthony Dod Mantle for the critically acclaimed indie Slumdog Millionaire. Mantle received the best cinematography honors Saturday from the National Society of Film Critics.
The winner will be announced at the 23
Woody Allen received his 19
Joining Allen in the original screenplay category are Joel & Ethan Coen for Burn After Reading -- the brothers won the guild's award for adapted screenplay last year for No Country for Old Men -- Dustin Lance Black for Milk, Tom McCarthy for The Visitor and Robert Siegel for The Wrestler.
Nominated for best adapted screenplay are The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, screenplay by Eric Roth, screen story by Roth and Robin Swicord, based on the short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald; The Dark Knight, screenplay by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan, story by Christopher Nolan & David S. Goyer, based on the characters appearing on comic books published by DC Comics' "Batman" created by Bob Kane; Doubt, screenplay by John Patrick Shanley based on his stage play; Frost/Nixon, screenplay by Peter Morgan based on his stage play; and Slumdog Millionaire, screenplay by Simon Beaufoy based on the novel Q and A by Vikas Swarup.
Competing in the documentary screenplay categories are Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story, written by Stefan Forbes and Noland Walker; Chicago 10, written by Brett Morgen; Fuel, written by Johnny O'Hara; Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, screenplay by Alex Gibney from the words of Hunter S. Thompson; and Waltz with Bashir, written by Ari Folman.
Last year, the WGA was embroiled in a strike during the awards season, so the traditional gala on both the east and west coasts didn't take place. But it's back to business as usual with the writers: The 2009 Writers Guild Awards will be held simultaneously 7 February at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles and the Hudson Theatre at the Millennium Broadway Hotel in New York. -- Susan King, LA Times The Envelope
Mark Kimball, a computer scientist and motion picture technologist with more than 28 years experience in the movie industry, has been voted the John A. Bonner Medal of Commendation by the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The award - a medallion - will be presented at the Scientific and Technical Awards Dinner on Saturday, 7 February, at the Beverly Wilshire.
"For three decades, Mark has been at the forefront of technological advancements in motion pictures," said Academy President Sid Ganis. "His dedication to his craft and service to the Academy are both highly regarded in the industry."
In 1980, Kimball moved from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he was a system engineer with the Deep Space Network, to Walt Disney Productions, transferring in 1985 to Walt Disney Feature Animation, where he spent nearly two decades as the CAPS logistics system lead, a senior software systems specialist, a consulting engineer and finally as chief technologist. From 2004 through 2007, Kimball was director of digital production for The Walt Disney Company. Currently Kimball works as an independent media technology systems expert. His feature credits include Tron, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas, Dinosaur and Atlantis: The Lost Empire.
An Academy member since 1996, Kimball has served on the Scientific and Technical Awards Committee for 13 years, and in 2006 he was asked to join the Science and Technology Council. -- A.M.P.A.S.
The Dark Knight continues to soar this award season. Christopher Nolan, the director of the critical and commercial success, was nominated today for a Directors Guild of America award. It's the first time a superhero movie has received such a recognition from the DGA. The DGA nod comes out the heels of the "Batman" epic earning nominations from the Producers Guild of America, the American Society of Cinematographers and the Writers Guild of America, as well as sweeping the People's Choice Awards Wednesday evening. Nolan was previously nominated for Memento eight years ago.
Joining Nolan are Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire, David Fincher for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Ron Howard for Frost/Nixon and Gus Van Sant for Milk. Frost/Nixon marks the fourth DGA nomination for Howard. He won the award for 1995's Apollo 13 and 2001's A Beautiful Mind. Van Sant previously was nominated for 1997's Good Will Hunting. Slumdog marks the first feature film DGA nod for Boyle. It's also Fincher's first feature nomination, though he won the 2003 DGA commercial award.
Notably missing from the list were Sam Mendes for Revolutionary Road. Stephen Daldry for The Reader and Mike Leigh for Happy-Go-Lucky. Leigh won the New York Film Critics Circle and National Society of Film Critics honor for best director of 2008. The DGA Award is one of the most dependable bellwethers for the best director Academy Award
The winner will be announced at the DGA Awards dinner 31 January at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel. -- Susan King, LA Times The Envelope
In addition, two Scientific and Technical Special Award recipients will be recognized at the black-tie awards dinner: Ed Catmull, who will receive the Gordon E. Sawyer Award (an Oscar
The Academy Awards for scientific and technical achievements are:
Technical Achievement Award (Academy Certificate) to Steve Hylén for the concept and his continued leadership in the further development of the Hylén Lens System for motion picture effects photography. When attached to a film or digital production camera, this versatile aerial image device can produce a wide variety of optical effects interactively, on set and in real time without post-production image manipulation.
Scientific and Engineering Awards (Academy Plaque): To Erwin Melzner for the overall concept including the optical and cooling systems, Volker Schumacher for the optical design, and Timo Müller for the mechanical design, of the Arrimax 18/12 lighting fixture for use in motion picture production. With its choice of vari-focus and specular reflectors, the superior optical and mechanical design of this lighting fixture allows it to operate at 18,000 watts, producing unsurpassed light quality while its innovative cooling system keeps the housing safe to touch.
To Jacques Delacoux for the concept and electronic design, and Alexandre Leuchter for the software and electronic design, of the Transvideo-video assist monitors for the motion picture industry. Using color LCD screens, the Transvideo monitors provide flicker-free video assist bright enough for use in sunlight and have become a ubiquitous tool in both spherical and anamorphic cinematography.
To Bruno Coumert and Jacques Debize for the optical design, and Dominique Chervin and Christophe Reboulet for the mechanical design, of the compact and lightweight Angenieux 15-40 and 28-76 zoom lenses for handheld motion picture photography. With focus and zoom functions that can be easily controlled by either the operator or focus puller while filming handheld, these lightweight zoom lenses demonstrate a very high degree of engineering, supporting both ease of use and quick interchange.
Portions of the Scientific and Technical Awards Presentations will be incorporated into the Oscar ceremony. Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2008 will be presented on Sunday, 22 February, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland CenterThe 5,810 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences must return their completed Oscar
Nominations for the Academy Awards
The films, listed in alphabetical order by country, are: Austria, Revanche Götz Spielmann, director; Canada, Ce qu'il faut pour vivre (The Necessities of Life) Benoît Pilon, director; France, Entre les murs (The Class) Laurent Cantet, director; Germany, Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (The Baader Meinhof Complex) Uli Edel, director; Israel, Vals Im Bashir (Waltz with Bashir) Ari Folman, director; Japan, Okuribito (Departures) Yojiro Takita, director; Mexico, Arráncame la vida (Tear This Heart Out) Roberto Sneider, director; Sweden, Maria Larssons eviga ögonblick (Everlasting Moments) Jan Troell, director; Turkey, Üç maymun (3 Monkeys) Nuri Bilge Ceylan, director.
Foreign Language Film nominations for 2008 are being determined in two phases: The Phase I committee, consisting of several hundred Los Angeles-based members, screened the 65 eligible films between mid-October and January 10. That group's top six choices, augmented by three additional selections voted by the Academy's Foreign Language Film Award Executive Committee, constitute the shortlist. The shortlist will be winnowed down to the five 2008 nominees by specially selected committees in New York and Los Angeles. The committee members will spend this Friday, Saturday and Sunday viewing three of the films each day. -- A.M.P.A.S.
Gemma Arterton and Haley Atwell announced the nominees for the 2009 Orange British Academy Film Awards. In the major feature film categories, the nominees are:
BEST FILM: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader and Slumdog Millionaire
For a complete list of the nominees, visit BAFTA.org. The BAFTA Awards ceremony is set to take place on Sunday, 8 February, at the Royal Opera House in London. -- B.A.F.T.A.
OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM: Hunger, In Bruges, Mamma Mia!, Man on Wire and Slumdog Millionaire
DIRECTOR: Clint Eastwood, Changeling; David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon; Stephen Daldry, The Reader; Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
LEADING ACTOR: Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon; Dev Patel, Slumdog Millionaire; Sean Penn, Milk; Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
LEADING ACTRESS: Angelina Jolie, Changeling; Kristin Scott Thomas, I've Loved You So Long; Meryl Streep, Doubt; Kate Winslet, The Reader; Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder; Brendan Gleeson, In Bruges; Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt; Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight; Brad Pitt, Burn After Reading
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Amy Adams, Doubt; Penélope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona; Freida Pinto, Slumdog Millionaire; Tilda Swinton, Burn After Reading; Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler
FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE: The Baader Meinhof Complex, Gomorrah, I've Loved You So Long, Persepolis and Waltz With Bashir
The Australian animated film Mary and Max, a tale of misfits on opposite sides of the globe who find friendship by becoming pen pals, was described by festival director Geoffrey Gilmore as being about "compassion, love, friendship and ideas." It seemed a fitting opening for 25
"It's not the sort of story you'd see from (Hollywood studios) DreamWorks or Pixar. It deals with different or marginalized characters," director Adam Elliot told Reuters. "It's something a bit odd. But at the end of the day, it's supposed to be a feel-good film."
Sundance runs through 25 January and reaches its climax at a closing ceremony where awards for the best independent films, directors, writers and cinematographers will be given in categories for dramas and documentaries. The festival recognizes films from the United States and around the world.
While this year's Sundance has been overshadowed by the recession, organizers say ticket sales are up from 2008. Movie lovers are looking for a little laughter, some new technology and maybe even human frailty -- the stuff of life. "Art," Redford said. "will always find a way." -- Full story: Bob Tourtellotte, Reuters
In their annual grab to steal a little thunder from the Academy Awards
The Worst Actress category comprises Myers' co-star Jessica Alba, who was also honored for The Eye, Cameron Diaz (What Happens in Vegas), Paris Hilton (The Hottie & the Nottie), Kate Hudson (Fool's Gold and My Best Friend's Girl), and the entire cast of The Women, which includes Annette Bening, Eva Mendes, Debra Messing, Jada Pinkett-Smith and Meg Ryan.
Director M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening and the low-budget romantic comedy The Hottie & the Nottie were also nominated for Worst Picture, alongside the similarly themed spoof combo Disaster Movie and Meet the Spartans, and the fantasy adventure In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale.
The Razzies are determined by 687 voters -- more than eight times as many who vote on the Golden Globes. Winners will be announced during an appropriately tacky ceremony at a Hollywood theater on 21 February, a day before the Academy Awards. The nominees are usually nowhere to be seen, although Halle Berry sportingly showed up four years ago to accept her prize for Catwoman. -- Full story: Dean Goodman, Reuters
BEST PICTURE: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Dark Knight, Frost/Nixon, Milk and Slumdog Millionaire.
BEST DIRECTOR: Danny Boyle, David Fincher, Ron Howard, Christopher Nolan and Gus Van Sant.
BEST LEADING ACTOR: Clint Eastwood, Richard Jenkins, Frank Langella, Sean Penn and Mickey Rourke.
BEST LEADING ACTRESS: Anne Hathaway, Sally Hawkins, Melissa Leo, Meryl Streep and Kate Winslet (Revolutionary Road)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Josh Brolin, Robert Downey Jr., Philip Seymour Hoffman, Heath Ledger and Dev Patel.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Amy Adams, Penélope Cruz, Viola Davis, Marisa Tomei and Kate Winslet (The Reader)
We'll have to wait until tomorrow morning to see how we did...
Producer Christian Colson was honored with the Darryl F. Zanuck producer of the year award at the ceremony, held at the Hollywood Palladium, the latest Hollywood kudofest in the run-up to the Academy Awards next month.
Slumdog Millionaire swept up four Golden Globe awards earlier this month. Directed by Briton Danny Boyle and starring a cast of unknowns, the film is a leading contender for the Academy AwardFinal ballots for the 81
Listed on the ballots are nominees in 19 Awards categories. Separate ballots for 5 categories (Documentary Feature, Documentary Short Subject, Foreign Language Film, Animated Short Film and Live Action Short Film) will be distributed after verification of mandatory member attendance at screenings.
Following the tabulation of the votes, the winners' names will be placed in sealed envelopes to be opened on Oscar Night
The DGA Awards have become one of the most reliable indicators for the Academy Awards
Nearly one hundred and twenty Oscar
Biel will next be seen in Easy Virtue, a feature opening in May in which she stars opposite Colin Firth and Kristin Scott Thomas. She recently completed Nailed with Jake Gyllenhaal, James Marsden and Catherine Keener. Biel's credits also include roles in I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, The Illusionist and Elizabethtown.
Among the six awards that Biel will present during the evening is the Academy's Gordon E. Sawyer Award, an Oscar
The Scientific and Technical Awards Presentation is not televised but filmed excerpts from the event will be integrated into the 81Slumdog Millionaire is increasingly emerging as the favorite to win the best picture Oscar
But that doesn't mean the other major categories are clear-cut. As the Screen Actors Guild Awards showed last month, surprises can still happen: It's a toss-up between Sean Penn and Mickey Rourke for best actor; supporting actress is anyone's guess; and Kate Winslet's nomination as best actress for The Reader shakes up everything after she was expected to contend in support. What follows is a breakdown of where the top races stand 2½ weeks ahead of Hollywood's Big Night.
BEST PICTURE: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader, Slumdog Millionaire. The Dark Knight didn't make it -- but Harvey Weinstein did. Even though he was unwilling or unable to pay for the sort of campaign that helped him dominate the Oscars in his heyday at the helm of Miramax Films, the producer still managed to pull off a best picture nomination for The Reader, bumping the Batman movie from the big five. Prior to the 22 January nominations, conventional wisdom had settled on four films as near-certain nominees: Button, Slumdog, Frost/Nixon and Milk. But nobody could agree on the fifth. The Dark Knight seemed to be out of the running when it failed to get a Golden Globe nomination, then surged to life after earning a Producers Guild of America nomination -- only to miss the Academy final cut. Now insiders are asking how much The Reader was helped by its weighty Holocaust theme and how much by Harvey. If the absence of The Dark Knight was a big shocker, so was the exclusion of not one but two Clint Eastwood movies -- Changeling and Gran Torino Torino had been gathering steam late in the race, but many insiders believe its terrific opening weekend came too late in the game, adding heft to the picture only after balloting had closed. Miramax's Doubt and Paramount Vantage's Revolutionary Road were also-rans.
DIRECTOR: Danny Boyle, Stephen Daldry, David Fincher, Ron Howard, Gus Van Sant. It makes sense that the Academy should choose the very directors who shot the five best picture nominees, but all too often the two categories don't line up. That's because only members of the directors branch vote for the director nominees, whereas the Academy's entire 5,800 membership chooses the picture contenders. This year, the directors and the Academy were in sync, a disappointment for Eastwood, who failed to get nominated for either Changeling or Gran Torino, and also for John Patrick Shanley, who had hoped to add a directing nomination to his writing kudos for Doubt. With Dark Knight banished as best picture, it was almost inevitable that director Christopher Nolan would be overlooked too -- and so were Oscar-winning luminaries like Sam Mendes (Revolutionary Road) and Woody Allen (Vicky Cristina Barcelona). By contrast, Daldry was a surprise nominee after being bypassed by the Golden Globes and the DGA.
ACTOR: Richard Jenkins, Frank Langella, Sean Penn, Brad Pitt, Mickey Rourke. Observers looking to read the tea leaves at other major awards like SAG or the Globes frequently forget that the Academy's membership skews significantly older. That's one reason the 1,200-plus members of the Academy's acting branch did not include Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire) in its best actor line-up, but instead opted for Richard Jenkins, playing a lonely widower in The Visitor. This line-up also indicates that the Academy continues to favor heavier fare over comedy -- hence, none of the Globe comedy/musical actor nominees became an Oscar finalist. This looked like the category where Eastwood might at last clutch the acting bauble he has long coveted, or at least get a nomination. But it wasn't to be. Equally notable was the absence of Leonardo DiCaprio for his re-teaming with Kate Winslet in Revolutionary Road. Javier Bardem, last year's best supporting actor winner, played a role that straddled two categories -- lead and support -- in Vicky Cristina Barcelona. That may have cost him a nomination this time around.
ACTRESS: Anne Hathaway, Angelina Jolie, Melissa Leo, Meryl Streep, Kate Winslet. Winslet was badly hurt by the Academy's rule that no actor or actress may receive two nominations in the same category. Because of that, in all likelihood, she did not get nominated for Revolutionary Road. It could have been quite different if the Academy had lumped her work in The Reader in the supporting actress category instead -- but, as so often, the Academy ignored studio wishes and this year's previous awards. (She won the Globe for best supporting actress.) Now Winslet just has one shot to win her first Oscar in six nominations. Her impressive body of work would certainly favor her going into the Oscars. Where, oh, where was Sally Hawkins? The British actress who starred in Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky and won a Golden Globe in January was the most conspicuous omission among this year's nominees -- all the more surprising given that Leigh himself was nominated for original screenplay. Another British absentee: Kristin Scott Thomas (I've Loved You So Long), who was also nominated for a Globe.
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Josh Brolin, Robert Downey Jr., Philip Seymour Hoffman, Heath Ledger, Michael Shannon. Ledger has dominated this race for so long, winning a Globe and a SAG award, that most insiders believe he's a slam-dunk when it comes to the Oscars -- but this category has often held some real surprises when it comes to the actual winners. Among the nominees, the Academy gave a rare thumbs-up to comedy with Downey's nomination, but bypassed his co-star Tom Cruise, who earned a Globe nomination. Many fans of Brolin believe he has been slighted twice by the Academy: first, when it failed to nominate him for last year's No Country for Old Men; second, when it bypassed his lead actor work in Oliver Stone's W. The absence of Dev Patel is also notable -- one of the few strikes against a front-runner in the best picture category that won the top acting award at SAG. Patel may have been edged out by Michael Shannon, a newcomer to the awards race. But the real missing name is Frost/Nixon's Michael Sheen, who may have fallen between two stools, as voters were uncertain whether to choose him for lead or support.
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Amy Adams, Penélope Cruz, Viola Davis, Taraji P. Henson, Marisa Tomei. This may be the most wide-open of all the acting categories and the toughest to predict. Cruz appeared to be the front-runner until she lost out at both the Globes and SAG to Winslet for The Reader; but with Winslet nominated in the best actress category instead, the race again is wide open. Cruz may continue a long streak of wins for Woody Allen's stars; Davis and Henson will both gain support as newcomers; Tomei will have fans for a career-resurrection; and Adams is one of the most liked young actresses in Hollywood. The Academy's decision to bump Winslet into the best actress category blew this race wide open. But otherwise, there were no major surprises here, and the nominees were in sync with both SAG and the Globes. -- Stephen Galloway, Reuters
Actress Jessica Biel, hosted the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Scientific and Technical Achievement Awards this evening at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Use this link for a listing of recipients of this year's Scientific and Technical Achievement Awards.
Slumdog seems to be an unstoppable force this movie-awards season -- it swept the Golden Globes, recently won a top Screen Actors Guild Award, as well as the Producers Guild of America prize. Boyle also won the Directors Guild of America Award and Beaufoy won the Writers Guild of America Award for adapted screenplay Saturday evening. Slumdog is nominated for 10 Academy Awards and is considered the odds-on favorite to win the best film Oscar
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button earned three BAFTA Awards, for production design, hair and make-up, and special visual effects. Kate Winslet was named outstanding actress for The Reader during the ceremony Sunday evening at London's Royal Opera House. Winslet, who is nominated for a best actress Oscar for her performance as a former Nazi prison guard, previously won a Golden Globe and a SAG Award in the supporting actress category for The Reader.
Mickey Rourke, who won the Golden Globe and is nominated for an Oscar, won the BAFTA for outstanding actor as an aging athlete in The Wrestler. The late Heath Ledger, who also won Globe and SAG honors, earned a BAFTA for supporting actor as the Joker in The Dark Knight. And Oscar-nominee Penélope Cruz received the supporting actress award for her role as an obsessively jealous ex-wife in Vicky Cristina Barcelona. -- Full story: Susan King, The Envelope: LA Times
Oscar telecast producers Laurence Mark and Bill Condon, along with Oscar fashion coordinator Patty Fox, selected the designers and paired them with Los Angeles-based models, one of whom will wear the public's favorite gown while she brings Oscar statuettes onto the stage of the Kodak Theatre on Oscar Night
Public voting for "Oscars Designer Challenge" begins today at 3 p.m. PT at Oscar.com, the official Web site of the Academy Awards, where movie fans and fashion lovers will be able to see footage of the gowns and cast their vote. Anyone over the age of 18 can register to participate and will be eligible to vote once a day through 5 p.m. PT on 17 February 2009, when the voting period ends.
"Oscars Designer Challenge: Behind the Dress," a web series documenting the competition will be on oscar.com. The winning design will be announced first during "Oscar's Red Carpet 2009," the live arrivals show that will air on ABC beginning at 5 p.m. PT on 22 February. -- A.M.P.A.S.
Peter Gabriel's minute in the Oscars
"It's a bit unfortunate because the songwriters, even though they're a small part of the whole filmmaking process, we still work bloody hard and deserve a place in the ceremony as well," the 59-year-old singer said.
Gabriel is nominated alongside Thomas Newman for "Down To Earth" from WALL·E. The British musician says he'll still attend the Oscars, but is hoping a gospel choir will stand in for him onstage.
Organizers have warned that this year's ceremony will be full of new twists, including the way categories are presented. The academy did not immediately respond Friday to a request for comment. -- Yahoo! News
The first ever Peruvian film in competition at the annual cinema showcase, the story revolves around Fausta, the product of a rape inflicted on her mother during two decades of rebel violence in which around 70,000 people died or disappeared. After her mother's death, the virtually silent Fausta, played by Magaly Solier, is determined to give her a decent burial in her native village, but to do so must confront the fear that has afflicted her like a sickness throughout her life.
"This is for Peru. This is for our country," Peruvian-born director Claudia Llosa told the awards ceremony.
Although the slow-paced picture was not among the favorites to scoop the main award from 18 films in competition, it is likely to be a popular winner. It includes the premise that Fausta, afraid of suffering the same fate as her mother, places a potato inside her, and haunting songs add to the magical realist feel.
On a big night for South America, Uruguay's Gigante picked up two major prizes. Like The Milk of Sorrow, the picture is low-budget and slow-paced, and follows a supermarket security guard who becomes obsessed by a cleaning lady and begins to stalk her. It shared the runner-up Silver Bear with German entry Alle Anderen (Everyone Else) and the Alfred Bauer award for innovation in filmmaking along with veteran Polish director Andrzej Wajda, who presented Tatarak (Sweet Rush).
The best director prize went to Iran's Asghar Farhadi for Darbareye Elly (About Elly), a popular film about middle-class Iranians who cause disaster when, in order to uphold strict social conventions, they layer lie upon lie. The best actress Silver Bear was won by Everyone Else lead Birgit Minichmayr from Austria, and best actor was awarded to Malian Sotigui Kouyate for London River. Also starring Brenda Blethyn, the moving film recounts how two parents in London looking for children who go missing after the 2005 suicide attacks forge an unlikely friendship.
Films starring well-known actors were largely shunned, although The Messenger, in which Woody Harrelson plays an army officer who tells next of kin that loved ones died in combat, won the screenplay Silver Bear. The awards ceremony was the climax of the 11-day annual event at which hundreds of movies were showcased to the media and public as well as potential investors and distributors. -- Full story: Mike Collett-White and Erik Kirschbaum, Reuters
Clint Eastwood paid homage to French cinema after the Cannes Film Festival gave a special lifetime achievement award to the evergreen Hollywood legend, who is presenting his latest film at the age of 78. "France's cinéastes here in this country have always been very supportive of me all along the way," he told reporters after a special ceremony in a chic restaurant off the Champs-Elysees. "I'm very lucky to have known all of you." The world's biggest film festival gave a special Golden Palm award to Eastwood, whose film Changeling starring Angelina Jolie was shown at Cannes last year. The film failed to win one of the major prizes but Cannes President Gilles Jacob said the festival had long wanted to present a special award to Eastwood, who will not be on the Croisette this year.
"With this highly symbolic gesture, the festival is matching the unanimous enthusiasm that both the public and critics have for you," Jacob said. "It sometimes happens that someone is a great artist and a frenzied egotist. That is not the case with you."
France maintains a complex love-hate relationship with Hollywood. But Eastwood has been revered for his roles as the taciturn gunman of Sergio Leone's 1960s spaghetti westerns, the hardboiled detective Dirty Harry and in more sympathetic roles of late such as the repentant gunslinger in Unforgiven.
In Paris to present his latest film, Gran Torino, in which he plays a reactionary war veteran forced to come to terms with Asian neighbors, he had warm words for French cinema. "France is where the cinema began with the Lumière brothers," he said. "It's the first country which approached cinema as an art form." -- Full story: Elizabeth Pineau, Reuters
Leading this year's list, their picks for the Top 10 Best Picture winners in descending order: 1. The Godfather (1972); 2. All About Eve (1950); 3. On the Waterfront (1954); 4. Rebecca (1940); 5. Marty (1955); 6. Lawrence of Arabia (1962); 7. The Godfather, Part II (1974); 8. An American in Paris (1951); 9. Annie Hall (1977) and The French Connection (1971).
What do you think? We've given it some thought. Use this link to view our own rankings.
This year's Cannes Film Festival will have an animated opening. Organizers say the festival's opening-night film will be Up, a 3-D animated feature from hitmaking studio Pixar.
The film is a comedy adventure about a 78-year-old man, voiced by Ed Asner, who rigs helium balloons to his house and flies to South America. Co-directed by Pete Docter and Bob Peterson, the film also features the voices of Christopher Plummer, John Ratzenberger and Delroy Lindo. It marks Cannes' return to a populist curtain raiser after last year's bleak opener, Blindness, and is the first animated film to open the world's most prestigious film festival.
The festival said Thursday that Up would have its world premiere May 13 at the festival and open in the United States on 29 May. The Cannes Film Festival runs from 13-24 May. --Yahoo! News
"A Century Ago" will sample the year's entertainment and artistic achievements with screenings of such films as Biograph's After Many Years, in which new director Griffith experiments with parallel cutting and camera movement; Vitagraph's trick film The Thieving Hand; Gaumont's sensational Fantasmagorie, animated by Émile Cohl; and one of the earliest Italian productions Le Farfalle (Butterflies), presented from a hand-tinted print.
Hosted by the Academy's Director of Educational Programs and Special Projects Randy Haberkamp, the evening will feature live musical accompaniment by Michael Mortilla. Most films will be screened from 35mm prints drawn from the collections of the Academy Film Archive, the Library of Congress, and the UCLA Film & Television Archive, among others. -- A.M.P.A.S.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will kick off summer screening series, "Hollywood's Greatest Year: The Best Picture Nominees of 1939," on Monday, 18 May, with a big-screen presentation of Gone With the Wind. The 10-film 70th anniversary celebration, which will run through 3 August, showcases all of the Best Picture nominees from a landmark year that saw the release of an exceptional number of outstanding films. All screenings will be held on Monday evenings at 7:30 p.m. at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater.
The complete schedule for "Hollywood's Greatest Year" is as follows: 18 May Gone With the Wind; 1 June Stagecoach; 8 June Wuthering Heights; 15 June Dark Victory; 22 June Love Affair; 29 June Goodbye, Mr. Chips; 13 July Ninotchka; 20 July Mr. Smith Goes to Washington; 27 July Of Mice and Men; 3 August The Wizard of Oz.
All features will be preceded by one of the year's animated shorts and a chapter of the 1939 serial "Buck Rogers," starring Buster Crabbe and Constance Moore. Curtain time for all features is 7:30 p.m., and pre-show elements will begin at 7 p.m.
Passes and tickets for "Hollywood's Greatest Year: The Best Picture Nominees of 1939" are on sale now. Passes for all 10 films in the series are $25 for the general public and $20 for Academy members and students with a valid ID. Pass holders will also receive admission to a special screening of the 1939 epic Gunga Din on Friday, 12 June. -- A.M.P.A.S.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will celebrate the centennial of the establishment of the first permanent film studio in Los Angeles with "Movies! Moguls! Monkeys! and Murder!," a screening event showcasing early motion pictures filmed in Los Angeles between 1909 and 1914, on Wednesday, 20 May, at 7:30 p.m. at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood. The event also kicks off a three-month exhibition illuminating the pioneering companies, filmmakers and locations that quickly made filmmaking in Los Angeles such a boom industry.
"Movies! Moguls! Monkeys! and Murder!" will feature archival prints representing the earliest surviving glimpses of Los Angeles as a filming location. The accompanying exhibition, includes rare photographs, original correspondence, vintage camera equipment and other artifacts, is highlighted by materials relating to the first film studio murder as well as the Selig menagerie, a forerunner of the Los Angeles Zoo.
After shooting some location footage at a Los Angeles-area beach to insert into an otherwise stagebound Monte Cristo (1908), producer William N. Selig and director Francis Boggs realized the city's filmmaking potential and opened the first permanent film studio in the suburb of Edendale in 1909. Their pioneering works, along with those of several other companies that moved westward shortly thereafter, culminated in the 1914 releases of Cecil B. De Mille's The Squaw Man and Selig's The Spoilers, early feature-length productions that launched the "Hollywood" legend. -- A.M.P.A.S.
"Like every business now, we really have to be very careful," said Michael Barker, co-president of Sony Pictures Classics. "Everyone has concerns," he added, before noting that deals would still be made.
The opening ceremony, underlining 3D's growing importance, kicks off 12 days of screenings, interviews, red carpets and late-night revelry in the palm-lined resort, which attracts many of the most glamorous and powerful figures in the business.
Brad Pitt is expected in Cannes with Quentin Tarantino's World War Two drama Inglourious Basterds, one of 20 films showing in the main competition and vying for the coveted Palme d'Or for best picture when Cannes winds up on 24 May. The competition also includes by Pedro Almodóvar's Broken Embraces starring Penélope Cruz, Ken Loach's Looking for Eric featuring former French soccer star Eric Cantona and Lars von Trier's horror Antichrist. Jane Campion, who won the Palme d'Or with The Piano in 1993, brings Bright Star based on the romance between 19th century poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne. Other highlights include Ang Lee's Taking Woodstock about the rock festival and Lou Ye's Spring Fever, made in defiance of a five-year ban from film making imposed by China for his previous movie Summer Palace, also in Cannes.
Out of competition, Terry Gilliam has arguably the biggest movie in Cannes. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is the late Australian actor Heath Ledger's final screen role, which had to be completed by Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law. Hundreds more movies are shown outside the main competition, many of them on the market which runs throughout the festival and reinforces Cannes' importance in the world of cinema. -- Full article: Michael Davidson, Reuters
Das weiße Band (The White Ribbon), a black and white parable about the rise of fascism in pre-war Germany from director Michael Haneke, has won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Charlotte Gainsbourg took home the best actress prize for her x-rated performance as a woman driven made by grief in Lars Von Trier's Antichrist, which provoked howls of outrage from the usually unshockable Cannes critics with its graphic scenes of sex and violence.
The best actor prize went to Christoph Waltz for his scene-stealing turn in Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino's Second World War drama. His role as SS Colonel Hans Landa, a Nazi who glorifies in his reputation as "The Jew Hunter", is already being tipped for an Oscar
Britain had high hopes for success at this year's festival, where Ken Loach was in competition and Jane Campion's biopic of the poet John Keats was strongly fancied. But the only British success story was Andrea Arnold's Fish Tank, joint winner of the Jury Prize with Korean director Park Chan-Wook's Thirst. Fish Tank was notable because it's star, 17-year-old Katie Jarvis, was a novice actress discovered on a station platform.
The winners were announced in Cannes by Isabelle Huppert, the French actress who chaired this year's jury. She won the best actress prize in 2001 for another Haneke film, Le pianiste (The Piano Teacher).
"Today is a moment in my life when I can say I am very happy," said Haneke as he accepted the Palme d'Or. The director, whose previous credits include Caché and Code Unknown, was born in Munich but later took Austrian citizenship. In The White Ribbon he returns to the country of his birth. The film is set in a German village on the eve of the First World War, where a series of unsettling incidents gradually expose the malice and distrust at the heart of German society. -- Story: Anita Singh, The Guardian; photo: Getty Images.
Organizers said in a statement Wednesday that Baaria will be one of the movies in competition. The film follows three generations living through the 20
Indian epic film Jodhaa Akbar scooped top honours in India's version of the Oscars
The night's big winner in an awards ceremony replete with circus performers, fireworks and high-octane Bollywood dance routines was Jodhaa Akbar, about a 16
The film's director said the central theme of religious tolerance was a vital one for contemporary Indian society. "Yes, we do need a Hindu-Muslim alliance ... we do need a dynamic secular India in the 21
India, home to the world's most prolific movie industry, has tried to broaden its global appeal through the annual IIFA awards, held in a different city each year. -- Full article: James Pomfret, Reuters
"After more than six decades, the Academy is returning to some of its earlier roots, when a wider field competed for the top award of the year," said Ganis. "The final outcome, of course, will be the same -- one Best Picture winner -- but the race to the finish line will feature 10, not just five, great movies from 2009."
For more than a decade during the Academy's earlier years, the Best Picture category welcomed more than five films; for nine years there were 10 nominees. The 16
"Having 10 Best Picture nominees is going allow Academy voters to recognize and include some of the fantastic movies that often show up in the other Oscar
The governors approved the Music Branch Executive Committee recommendation that if no song achieves a minimum average score of 8.25 in the nominations voting, there be no original song nominees and thus no Oscar
In addition and as previously announced, the Best Picture category will have ten nominees instead of five. Other modifications of the rules include normal date changes and minor "housekeeping" changes. -- A.M.P.A.S.
"For some years now, the Board has struggled to balance the desire to truly honor worthy individuals with the time limitations that the Oscar
The Academy's Board will hold a special meeting in September for the sole purpose of selecting the year's honorees. There will not be more than one Hersholt nor more than one Thalberg Award voted in any given year. No more than four testimonial awards will be given in a single year. A black-tie dinner event for about 500 invitees will include film clips as well as remarks from the honorees' colleagues and admirers. Previously, these awards were voted at the Board's December meeting.
"We wanted to achieve more flexibility with these awards," explained Ganis. "But we also need to maintain the integrity of them. By setting the limits that we have, the members of the Board feel they have achieved the appropriate balance."
The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and the Honorary Award are Oscar statuettes; the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award is a bust of its namesake. The most recent recipients of each were Jerry Lewis (Hersholt Award) at the 81
"These filmmakers have, over the course of their careers, captured the imagination of audiences around the world," said Academy President Sid Ganis. "It's this kind of talent and creativity that make up the Academy, and I welcome each of them to our ranks."
The Academy's membership would have allowed a maximum of 166 new members in 2009, but as in the previous years, the several branch committees endorsed fewer candidates than were proposed to them. Voting membership in the organization has now held steady at just under 6,000 members since 2003.
New members will be welcomed into the Academy at an invitation-only reception at the Academy's Fairbanks Center for Motion Picture Study in Beverly Hills in September. -- A.M.P.A.S. Use this link to view the entire list of invitees for 2009.
In addition, the balloting in the Academy's Directors Branch produced a tie between candidates Gil Cates and Edward Zwick, necessitating a second polling of that branch. Academy Executive Director Bruce Davis indicated that as far as could be ascertained it was the first time that a runoff had ever been necessary in the voting for Academy Governors. Those ballots will be mailed to Directors Branch members this week and will be due back by 29 July.
Those elected to the Academy Board for the first time are: James D. Bissell, Art Directors Branch; Lynne Littman, Documentary; Robert G. Friedman, Public Relations; and Bill Kroyer, Short Films and Feature Animation. Littman was elected to fill the seat originally held by Michael Apted, who stepped down early because work obligations will keep him out of the country all year. She will serve for two years, the remainder of Apted's term.
Returning to the Board after a hiatus is Tom Hanks, representing the Actors Branch.
Incumbent governors returning to the board include Caleb Deschanel, Cinematographers Branch; Rob Epstein, Documentary; Tom Sherak, Executives; Mark Goldblatt, Film Editors; Bruce Broughton, Music; Mark Johnson, Producers; Kevin O'Connell, Sound; Bill Taylor, Visual Effects; and James L. Brooks, Writers.
Governors who were not up for reelection and who continue on the Board are Annette Bening and Henry Winkler, Actors Branch; Rosemary Brandenburg and Jeffrey Kurland, Art Directors; Owen Roizman and Vilmos Zsigmond, Cinematographers; Martha Coolidge and Curtis Hanson, Directors; Richard Pearce, Documentary; Jim Gianopulos and Robert Rehme, Executives; Dede Allen and Donn Cambern, Film Editors; Leonard Engelman, Makeup Artists and Hairstylists; Charles Fox and Arthur Hamilton, Music; Kathleen Kennedy and Hawk Koch, Producers; Sid Ganis and Marvin Levy, Public Relations; Carl Bell and John Lasseter, Short Films and Feature Animation; Curt Behlmer and Don Hall, Sound; Craig Barron and Richard Edlund, Visual Effects; and Frank Pierson and Phil Robinson, Writers. -- A.M.P.A.S.
Steven Miessner, the motion picture Academy's devoted "Keeper of the Oscars
Leading up to the Academy Award
He would then record which individually numbered Oscar was presented to whom and later, arrange with the winners to get their statuettes personally engraved.
Academy colleagues, stagehands and reporters alike marveled at Miessner's dedication and enthusiasm as he worked with the statuettes - a job that was actually a year-round process, according to Leslie Unger, spokeswoman for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
"He maintained the computer files on the current whereabouts, so far as can be known, of every Oscar ever awarded," Unger said. "He also was the liaison with R.S. Owens when a vintage statuette needed refurbishing."
In addition to his Oscar duties, Miessner was an executive assistant to academy executive director Bruce Davis and president Sid Ganis. A member of the academy staff since 2002, Miessner "was central to the day-to-day operations of the organization," said Unger. -- AP
Earlier this month run-off ballots were mailed to Directors Branch members when Zwick and Gil Cates tied for the seat. Ballots were due back yesterday (29 July). This was the first time in Academy history that there was a tie in the balloting. -- A.M.P.A.S.
Tom Sherak was elected president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Tuesday night (8/18) by the organization's Board of Governors.
Sherak, who is beginning his seventh year as a governor representing the Executives Branch, has served as treasurer of the Academy during the past year. He succeeds Sid Ganis, who had served the maximum four consecutive one-year terms in the office.
In addition, Actors Branch governor Tom Hanks was elected first vice president; Producers Branch governor Kathleen Kennedy and Writers Branch governor Phil Robinson were elected to vice presidents posts; Producers Branch governor Hawk Koch was elected treasurer; and Short Films and Feature Animation Branch governor John Lasseter was elected secretary. Ganis, representing the Public Relations Branch, will serve as immediate past president.
These will be the first officer stints for Lasseter and Robinson. Hanks had previously served as vice president and treasurer. Koch had previously served one term as vice president. This will be Kennedy's second consecutive term as vice president.
Sherak, a marketing, distribution and production executive with more than four decades in the motion picture industry, is currently a consultant for Marvel Studios. Previously, Sherak was a partner at Revolution Studios where he oversaw the release of more than 40 films including Black Hawk Down, Anger Management, Rent and Across the Universe.
Prior to joining Revolution, Sherak was chairman of Twentieth Century Domestic Film Group and served as senior executive vice president of Fox Filmed Entertainment. Previously, he held various positions at Fox, including senior executive vice president, where he oversaw the distribution and post-production of Mrs. Doubtfire, Speed and Independence Day, among others.
In 1990 Sherak was named executive vice president of Twentieth Century Fox. Prior to that he was president of domestic distribution and marketing for Fox, where launched such films as Romancing the Stone, Aliens, Wall Street, Die Hard and Working Girl. He began his career in the industry at Paramount Pictures in 1970.
Academy board members serve three-year terms, while officers serve one-year terms, with a maximum of four consecutive terms in any one office. -- A.M.P.A.S.
"I'm thrilled to be a part of this new event celebrating this year's recipients of the most prestigious awards in the industry," said Cohen. "I want the evening to be an elegant, legendary night that the honorees and attendees alike will remember and cherish."
Cohen won a Best Picture Oscar
The Academy's Board of Governors will select the 2009 honorees for the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and/or the Honorary Award at a meeting in September. There will not be more than one Hersholt nor more than one Thalberg Award voted in any given year. No more than four Governors Awards will be given in a single year. -- A.M.P.A.S.
In June the Academy's Board of Governors extended the Best Picture category from five to 10 nominees, which necessitated a change to the voting system for the category. With 10 nominees, the preferential system is one that best allows the collective judgment of all voting members to be most accurately represented.
"Instead of just marking an 'X' to indicate which one picture they believe to be the best, members will indicate their second, third and further preferences as well," Academy President Tom Sherak said. "PricewaterhouseCoopers will then be able to establish the Best Picture recipient with the strongest support of a majority of our electorate."
In 1934 and 1935, there were 12 nominees for Best Picture and the preferential system was used to determine the winners. From 1936 through 1943, there were 10 nominees for Best Picture and the preferential system was used for final balloting. In 1944 and 1945, the preferential system continued to be used, though there were only five nominees in the category. -- A.M.P.A.S.
The Venice film festival opens on Wednesday with big-budget Italian movie Baaria, a sentimental sweep through 20th century Sicily taking in Fascism, war, Communism and the mafia. Billed as one of Italy's most expensive ever movies costing €25 million ($36 million), the first home-made film to open Venice for around 20 years kicks off 11 days of screenings, photo shoots, parties and red carpet glamour on the Lido island.
Director Giuseppe Tornatore, whose 1988 movie Cinema Paradiso won a foreign film Oscar
"It might be any other place," he said, speaking through a translator. "The idea was not to tell the story of Sicily. The idea was to tell the story of a number of characters in the microcosm of a small town, hearing the echoes of what was happening around the town and far from that town," he added. "I went away at 27, so I absorbed all the flaws of the Sicilian, even those I know nothing about."
While Venice organizers would welcome an Italian hit on the Lido after home-grown films have generally flopped in recent years, the success of the festival will be judged as well by how many Hollywood stars and U.S. movies it attracts.
The early signs are promising, with Matt Damon, Michael Moore, Nicolas Cage, George Clooney, Oliver Stone, Charlize Theron, Eva Mendes, Richard Gere and Sylvester Stallone among those expected to walk the red carpet.
The cinema complex on the Lido waterfront is being re-built in a €100-million makeover designed to drag the world's oldest film festival into the 21st century and help it compete with other festivals, notably Toronto, which it overlaps. -- Full article: Mike Collett-White, Reuters
The Toronto International Film Festival rounds out its schedule with the announcement of films for a number of programmes, including five titles under the Discovery banner, two films for Sprockets Family Zone and additional works added to both the Vanguard and Special Presentations lineups.
These films complete the schedule for the 34th edition of the Festival running 10-19 September 2009. Over these ten days, 335 films from 64 countries will screen, including 271 feature-length films, 72 per cent of which are world, international or North American premieres and 71 of which are feature directorial debuts.
Posters for Dr. No, The Great Escape, In the Heat of the Night, Ragtime and dozens of other films will be on display in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' new exhibition, "Art of the Movie Poster: Illustrated One-Sheets and Design Concepts from the Paul Crifo Archive," opening on Thursday, 17 September, in the Academy's Grand Lobby Gallery in Beverly Hills. Admission is free.
"Art of the Movie Poster" will focus on the decades from the 1950s through the '80s, showcasing the creative process by which a finished movie poster was achieved. Each stage of the process will be represented, through reference stills, concept sketches, and hand-rendered and photographic "comps" (design mock-ups incorporating graphics and text). Also featured will be many of the approved original illustrations of "key art." Multiple poster concepts will be displayed alongside the final "winning" posters, which are from the collections of poster designer Paul Crifo and the Academy's Margaret Herrick Library. This exhibition marks the first time that much of Crifo's work will be on display for public viewing.
Other films represented in the exhibition include Paths of Glory, Separate Tables, Tom Jones, Zorba the Greek, The Group, How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying, The Producers, Play It Again, Sam, A Separate Peace and Mahogany.
Crifo studied illustration at Pratt University; from 1942 through 1986, he worked on more than 400 motion picture advertising campaigns and personally designed 120 film posters for Hollywood studios, foreign distributors and independent film companies, largely while working out of New York City.
"Art of the Movie Poster" will be on display through 13 December. The Academy's Grand Lobby Gallery is located at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills and is open Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and weekends, noon to 6 p.m. The gallery will be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, 26-29 November. -- A.M.P.A.S.
"These four individuals have each, in their own unique way, made lasting impressions on the motion picture industry and audiences worldwide," said Academy President Tom Sherak. "I'm thrilled that the Academy's Board selected them to be honored at our new Governors Awards event, which will be full of memorable moments celebrating their accomplishments."
Born in New York, Bacall made her screen debut with Humphrey Bogart in To Have and Have Not in 1944. She subsequently starred in more than 30 films, including such classics as The Big Sleep, Key Largo, How to Marry a Millionaire, Murder on the Orient Express and Misery. Bacall earned an Oscar